Olympian Anna Hall Breaks Down What a Heptathlon Actually Is

Plus, the professional athlete divulges which of the seven disciplines from the event is her favorite.

Anna Hall was photographed by Ben Horton at The Boca Raton. Swimsuit by Andi Bagus. / Ben Horton/Sports Illustrated

For those who are unaware what exactly a heptathlon consists of, there’s no better person to learn from than professional track and field athlete Anna Hall. The 24-year-old, who made her Olympic debut during the Paris games in 2024, posed for this year’s SI Swimsuit Issue at The Boca Raton in Boca Raton, Fla.

While on set in the Sunshine State, the athlete helpfully explained what exactly her event, the heptathlon, consists of. Below, learn how the seven-discipline event is broken down over two days.

What is a heptathlon?

Day 1: 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash

“We wake up bright and early and we start with the 100 hurdles, and then after that we go straight into the high jump,” Hall stated while on location. “We transition into the shot put, a throwing a event, and we finished day one running the 200. And we will go back to the hotel, go to sleep, try to eat, recover as much as possible.”

Day 2: Long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter run

“We start in the morning right away with the long jump, we head to javelin and finish the entire day up running an 800, which is half a mile, as fast as you can,” Hall shared. “[The latter is] kind of a gut check of just like, who wants it the most.”

How is a heptathlon scored?

While the events themselves are fairly straightforward, the heptathlon scoring process is where things get a little murky, Hall admits.

“In each discipline, they create like a scores table,” she explained. “It’s very complicated, using like lots of statistics and math that is way above my level, and they base all of the max scores off of the world record in each of these events on the individual people, so it’s about how close we can get to that. It’s important to like beat people at each of these events, but the main thing is to do really, really well in all of them. So you’re like collecting solid points at each one and then whoever has the most points at the end of it wins.”

Hall’s favorite heptathlon discipline

As for her favorite discipline, the professional athlete admits that it’s a toss up between the high jump and the 800-meter run. The former was the first track and field event Hall ever tried her hand at, while the latter is the one she gets “the most fired up for,” she stated. Javelin, which she called her weakness, is Hall’s least favorite of the seven disciplines.